You’re an entrepreneur looking to expand your business and turn your passion into your livelihood, and ideally profit. Delegating and outsourcing are probably keywords in your vocabulary, giving you more time for the big adventure of delivering stellar customer satisfaction.

Surprisingly, some entrepreneurs still neglect the accounting, intentionally or not, risking the very life of the business. Some reasons we have heard are:

Lack of organization or plan

Lack of financial understanding

Lack of time

Lack of funds or believe they cannot afford

Lack of trust sharing financial information

Fortunately, there are easy answers to all these reasons. Every entrepreneur who is thinking about, or who is a new or existing business owner has resources in their local area to tackle reasons 1 and 2 above:

For those who may align with reasons 3 and 4, the key lies in setting your up your books correctly from the start, a professional bookkeeper can do it in about an hour. Software/banking automation is the second key to eliminating the time excuse.

As to affordability, if the business has completed the setup and automation, you may only need a professional monthly review of 1-3 hours on average, based on the volume and complexity of your business. If you prefer a professional do the bookkeeping, and the books have been set up as above, 20-25 hours a month may be just fine. Alternatively, a hybrid situation where you split the duties with a professional, could save you money as well.

Finally, we understand that sharing financial information is personal, not to be taken lightly. Make a list of what is important to you, such as communication, accessibility, skill, insurance, and, is there an Engagement/Non-Disclosure Agreement. Interview several professionals in order to find the best match.

Are you feeling anxious about how the recent Tax Reform will affect your finances? Did you know that there are several helpful tools at the IRS.gov website to help you navigate the questions about your particular tax situation? Ease the stress and check out the easy to use Interactive Tax Assistant for topics including Claiming Dependents, Your Filing Status, Pensions and IRAs, Credit Eligibility and more.

2018 Child Tax Credit– $2000 per child to age 17; $500 available for other Dependents

One final tip, be sure to review my blog on reviewing withholding. If you have any questions, or need assisting with organizing your business or personal books, Callor Email MJB’s Bookkeeping Solutions, LLC for a clearer economic path.

When was the last time you looked at your tax withholding? With the recent changes to 2018 Tax Laws, there is no time like the present to complete a W4 Worksheet or similar to avoid under withholding for the current year. Whether an Employee or Business this applies to you.

Do you file “complex returns” including Schedule A itemizing, multiple jobs, or major life changes like marriage, divorce, new child, adoption, death of a spouse and/or the start of a new job? Did you start a new business? These especially warrant a review.

Plan now for the 2018 changes to the Standard Deduction, deductions going away or being limited, increases to certain credits, and changes to 401K and IRA contributions.

To help with this task, the IRS will be releasing a 2018 W-4 withholding calculator available on the IRS.gov website, soon.

As with any game in sports, it’s rare that a good offense wins without a good defense to back it up. Your finances are no different.

So how often should You analyze your “game” to determine any weaknesses and reposition resources as necessary? Once a month is the best practice, subject to the unexpected, a flag that could put Your income at risk and elevate expenses.

Having an “A” game in place is good, and having a plan “B” is also recommended for reasons noted above. Here are a few tactics on how to fortify Your game plan:

Are there other possible revenue streams You could implement

Ideally you already have and are using a budget, and make sure You include Owner Draws in the budget

Document all cash purchases to capture any deductible personal or business expenses

Be as debt free as possible, pay off credit cards regularly if possible

Rotating credit cards and paying them off affects credit scores in a positive way

Accountancy is all about the numbers, achieving offensive/defensive balance, and being able to quickly adjust to change.

MJB’s Bookkeeping Solutions will work the sidelines to assist You in creating a clearer economic path, so that You can spend your effort and time on what is important. Call, Email, or Make an appointment for Your No Obligation ConsultationToday.

September has arrived and many are sharpening pencils as well as skills. If you are managing multiple revenue streams and looking for a good way to assess what is working and what is not, grab your favorite note taking device and explore the ABC’s of “Classes”, and how it might provide you a clearer economic path.

Maybe you need to track product and service lines in detail. QuickBooks Classes differentiate transactions by departments, locations, product line, service type or other defining category relevant to your business or personal finance preference. QuickBooks keeps it easy and clean using the same chart of accounts across all Classes. Run a report and you will quickly see the line of business metrics.

When setting up Class Tracking think about

How do you want to see your business segmented on your financial reports? Classes will capture not only income and expense, but also assets, liabilities, and equity transactions.

Be consistent in how you enter class information on registers to be sure that your financial reports are accurate.

Need additional specifics? Set up “Sub-Classes” under the main Class.

Once you have mapped out your system you will have the ability to analyze your business finances from different perspectives…using built in reports “by class”.

When you might use Classes

A business with two or more locations – like a grocery store – could use to analyze the profitability of each location.

A contracting business with both maintenance and installation services may want to track the return on investment of each service separately. Or, perhaps need to track by a single family, commercial, or renovate and sell investment property.

A Non-Profit will track income and expenses by grant, event or project.

A Property Management Company might track by tenant within a single location, or for each property location.

A service business may be interested in tracking the location of current clients, in order to increase marketing in an untapped area.

You want to know if you are getting paid for your hard work – where, how much and when your money is coming and going, and most importantly what’s left for you. Class tracking is a great tool to do this.

If you have questions about classes or other accounting questions, please contact me or make an appointment now, to ensure that you are focusing your hard work, passion and commitment for creating value in the right direction.